


as far as i could get

by sinshine



Series: that galolio DragonAge au [1]
Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Dragon Age AU, M/M, One Shot, nonbinary lio, reluctant allies to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27171929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinshine/pseuds/sinshine
Summary: Lio laughed lightly, their eyes glittering with amusement. "You underestimate your own reputation. Of course I know about the famous Seeker, descended from a family of renown dragon hunters... But most importantly, you've been tailing me for a few weeks and it hasn't escaped my notice that you travel with a large bear instead of a horse.""I don't think Pineapple stands out that much," Galo said with something close to a pout.[Dragon Age au: Lio is on the run after the Kirkwall Circle falls and Galo is the Seeker who catches up to him]
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Series: that galolio DragonAge au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2001268
Comments: 9
Kudos: 59





	as far as i could get

**Author's Note:**

> a huge Thank You!! to [houselesbian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/houselesbian/pseuds/houselesbian) for being a bear enthusiast and for helping me build this au :]
> 
> In the DA timeline, this takes place right before the start of Inquisition. The characters aren't an exact one-to-one and have different histories, but Lio is mostly in Hawke's role and Galo in Cassandra's.

Despite his dislike for both the rocky countryside and the plethora of goats that inhabited it, Galo found himself in a small mining town at the base of the Blasted Hills. He would have much preferred a detour into the nearby city of Perendale-- he had been traveling through the Nevarran countryside for long enough that he was beginning to feel starved for a taste of civilization-- but his quarry had a preference for small towns and dirt roads. Galo supposed that he would prefer them too, if he were also a wanted criminal.

Galo left his mount outside of the town's only inn and gave the street a cursory glance, but no one paid him any mind. Winter had crept down early from the mountains this year and snow was predicted in the coming weeks, so the townsfolk had bigger concerns than the business of some errant traveler. Satisfied, Galo pulled the red muffler higher up on his face and stepped into the inn, closing the door quickly behind him to keep the cold from following.

It was early in the evening and there were only a handful of people inside. Mostly locals, from what Galo could tell, except for a slight figure who sat alone at the bar with a pair of daggers holstered on their back. They had light hair and were dressed in traveling clothes similar to Galo's, setting them apart from the miners who gossiped quietly to each other at a table. Galo's heart leapt into his throat and he swallowed it back down. He forced himself to take slow, measured steps as he crossed the room and, as casually as possible, selected a seat at the bar next to them. Unfortunately, Galo's veneer of calm was as thin as a soap bubble and it popped as soon as the other traveler turned and spoke to him.

"You're late, Galo Thymos."

Galo shot to his feet and slammed his hands on the bar, his ears burning red and his eyes sparkling. "You know who I am?!"

"Shut up." They lifted a flagon that had been left on the bar, pouring what smelled like wine into an empty glass before pushing it towards him. "Sit down and stop making a scene."

Galo reeled his emotions in and sat back down, giving an apologetic smile to the innkeeper who was chatting with the miners. He cupped his gloved hands around the glass and noted his companion's matching drink. "You were expecting me, Boss?"

"Call me 'Lio.' Don't refer to me with any of the titles or strange epithets you may have heard." Lio scowled and swirled the wine in their glass before taking a drink.

Galo flushed again and nodded. "Based on your movements, I figured you knew someone was following you. But how did you know it was me?"

Lio laughed lightly, their eyes glittering with amusement even though they seemed tired. "You underestimate your own reputation. Of course I know about the famous Seeker, descended from a family of renown dragon hunters. Not to mention your position as the Right Hand of the Divine... But most importantly, you've been tailing me for a few weeks and it hasn't escaped my notice that you travel with a large bear instead of a horse."

"I don't think Pineapple stands out that much," Galo said with something close to a pout. "No one gave me any weird looks when I left her outside just now."

"I wouldn't want to make eye contact with the man riding a bear, either." Lio tipped their head to swallow the last of the wine in their glass. "But here we are anyway. 'Enemies closer' and all that."

Galo frowned. "I don't think of myself as your enemy."

"So, you don't want to imprison me?"

Galo took a sip of the wine to be polite, even though he didn't really care for the stuff. From what he knew about Lio, it was unlikely to be poisoned. The wine was a peace offering, not an attempt at subterfuge. "Ideally, no."

"Ideally," Lio echoed bitterly.

"But I need to know what happened at Kirkwall. And I would also appreciate your cooperation with--"

"Cooperation?" Lio laughed again but this time it was a hard, derisive sound. "You want me to help the Chantry hunt down its broken Circles. Well, before I get into telling you how absolutely useless that idea is, I'm afraid you're going to have to help me with a little something."

Galo carefully glanced over his shoulder, alerted by the sound of heavy footfalls on the staircase. "Would that something happen to be the very hostile looking gentlemen who are moving to block the exit?"

Lio hummed an affirmation. "But they haven't blocked the kitchen. We'll leave through the cellar."

"You _let_ me catch up to you," Galo said with awe as the realization came to him.

"Of course. There's no way you would have found me otherwise." Lio reached for the flagon, but instead of refilling their empty glass they swiveled in their seat and flung it across the room, where it smashed on the face of a mercenary in an explosion of pottery and alcohol.

Galo leapt to his feet and turned to face their assailants, while the innkeeper and miners scrambled out of the way. There wasn't a lot of room for a fight, so rather than reaching for the sword at his hip, Galo unbuckled the shield he kept on his back and rammed it into the closest adversary, effectively knocking them onto the floor. Lio moved faster than him and was a whirlwind of knives, already having felled the man they'd struck with the flagon and moving onto a rogue who came at them with a pair of gleaming daggers. There were four mercenaries altogether, but then the door to the inn was flung open and more began to enter.

“Time to go!” Lio called out. The rogue thrust a dagger at them, but Lio caught her wrist and yanked on it, pulling her to the side so that the blade sunk uselessly into the wood of a support beam. Lio cracked their elbow into the rogue’s jaw and sent her tumbling back into a mercenary who was trying to get around her, both of them landing hard on the floor.

“To me!” Galo yelled as he deflected a sword, his shield ringing with the strike. He started backing up behind the bar, making sure that Lio was moving with him. He needn’t have bothered; Lio spin-kicked another mercenary in the face, backflipped cleanly over the bar, and darted past Galo into the kitchen. Galo followed and Lio shut the door behind him, shoving a table in the way for a quick barricade, then they both clambered down the stairs into the cellar.

Lio flung open the back door to the cellar, heedless of the noise as it banged open. Their horse was loitering a little ways from the inn, nibbling at the sparse weeds on the ground, but it trotted happily over at the sight of Lio. Galo didn't know enough about horses to identify what breed it was, but it seemed common enough with a brown coat and mane. Attached to her saddle was a pack and a long bit of curved wood that seemed to be a bow. Lio rubbed their hand over her neck and smiled. “Let’s go, Belle.”

Galo pursed his lips and made a loud whistle that was somewhere between musical and shrill. From the front of the inn, they could hear the responding roar of a bear and the screams of several people who were probably shitting themselves. "Can I ride with you for a bit? Pineapple sounds busy."

Lio, in a marvel of physics for someone so short, quickly mounted the horse and held out their hand for Galo. "Come on, then!"

Galo got on behind Lio, holding onto their waist as Lio snapped the reigns and took off in a flash. Belle moved quickly despite the extra weight, undoubtedly spurred along by the sounds of angry humans and an even angrier bear.

Lio rode hard and fast, taking them out of town and into the Blasted Hills. They slowed after half a league when it became obvious that no one was following them and doubled back a little to allow Pineapple to catch up with them, watching from a hilltop as she ambled along. It was rather anticlimactic, but Lio wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"For some reason, I thought your bear was much faster," Lio said.

"Oh, she's very fast," Galo agreed. "But she's also very food-motivated and I haven't rewarded her for scaring the mercenaries."

"Scaring?"

"Well, she probably killed a few of them, but she doesn't attack unless attacked first. Mostly she just likes to be fed and being left to her own devices."

"I can relate to that." Lio nodded, thoughtfully.

But in the end, a large bear is still a large bear and Belle wouldn't allow it to come within a dozen paces of her. There was a little blood in Pineapple’s fur, though not as much as Lio had been expecting. As Galo cooed and fussed over the massive animal, Belle and Lio stood a safe distance away but they watched with undisguised curiosity as Galo took a handful of dried berries from his pack and fed it to her.

When Galo was once again perched on Pineapple’s saddle and they were certain that no one had followed her, Lio led them on a winding path through a steeper part of the hills. They traveled until the sun was low on the horizon and arrived at the edge of a narrow ravine. If Lio hadn’t been there to point it out, Galo wasn’t sure that he would have noticed the low, wooden post stuck at the cliff’s edge, hidden among the tall grass. It marked the beginning of a ramp built into the side of the cliff, descending into the ravine. It was both wide and sturdy enough for a horse to use, probably even with a cart in tow. And, after some convincing and another handful of berries, they discovered that it was also sturdy enough to hold a bear.

It was difficult to carry on a conversation when the person you were trying to talk to traveled a dozen paces ahead of you, but Galo made the effort anyway. “How did you know this was here?”

“What?” Lio glanced over their shoulder. After Galo repeated his question, they answered, “Someone showed me.”

“Isn’t this, you know, a smugglers’ road?” Galo asked. But then Lio suddenly couldn’t hear him at all.

The bottom of the ravine was much more pleasant than the top of it. A stream cut through the middle and gave life to a surprising variety of vegetation. There were even a handful of trees, providing an adequate amount of coverage so that they wouldn’t immediately be noticed from the top of the cliffs. Also, to Galo’s great relief, there weren’t any goats.

Galo tipped his head back and looked up at the strip of sky between the cliffs, purple with twilight. "Is it safe here?"

"Safe enough," Lio said with a shrug as they dismounted. "Not many people know about this road. Even if the mercenaries are smart enough to follow the stream, they'll have to go the long way around. We're fine for tonight, at least."

"Who were those guys?"

"Must I know the names of all my pursuers?" Lio flashed a sly smile and Galo felt his heart try to climb into his throat again. "There's quite a lot of competition for my head these days, Galo Thymos."

"Just 'Galo' is fine! And…I like your head where it is! It's nice." Galo felt his face flush and he quickly busied himself with removing his pack from Pineapple. Lio probably couldn't see him very well in the dusky light, but Galo didn't want to risk it on the off chance that 'night vision' was on Lio's list of extraordinary skills. "Those mercenaries weren’t very good, but there were a lot of them.”

“Sometimes numbers are all it takes. I’ve had the misfortune of displeasing someone who's low on brains but high on disposable income.”

“Why are they after you?” Galo asked, chancing a look at Lio. They were turned away from him, preoccupied with their own pack.

“Does it matter?” Lio said in a tone which conveyed that, even if it did matter, they weren’t going to talk about it. "Could you grab some firewood?"

"I'll make an attempt," Galo said, noting the sparseness of trees in the area. He watched Pineapple wade into the shallow water and stick her face under the surface, probably in pursuit of fish. "Are you going to find dinner?"

"I have some food from the inn that we can share."

“Sounds good to me.” Galo glanced once more at Lio, then left to complete his task.

After Galo was out of earshot, Lio sighed and released some of the tension in their shoulders. They closed their eyes and slumped a little, pressing their forehead to Belle’s side.

"What am I doing?" Lio whispered. Belle nickered gently in response. "I know involving a Seeker is trouble, but there's no one else who can help."

Lio lifted their head and stared at Belle.

Belle stared back.

"Or," Lio said, "Maybe I'm the kind of lonely that goes with talking to a horse all the time. Not that you aren't a fantastic conversationalist, but sometimes I miss it, you know? Traveling with people."

Belle snorted and flicked an ear.

Lio let out a small laugh and pet her nose. "You're right, of course. But at the very least, I doubt that Galo is going to kill me while I'm sleeping, so he has that going for him. Plus, he's not bad to look at…"

Lio shut their mouth when they were once again met with Belle’s judgemental stare.

 _Internal dialogue stays internal,_ Lio said, internally. _This is the first person I've been around in a while who hasn't tried to con me or kill me, so don't be weird. Try to act normal._

 _You don’t know that he isn’t going to con or kill you,_ said Lio’s other internal voice, the one that had been dogging them ever since the Kirkwall Circle fell. _Just because he hasn’t been dangerous yet doesn’t mean that he can’t_ become _dangerous._

 _Less paranoid, more normal!_ Lio thought firmly.  
  
  


…

  
  
  


It became significantly colder after the sun had fully set, so the two of them huddled close to the fire. Galo was delighted to discover that in addition to the fresh bread and cheese that Lio had brought from the inn, there was also a bit of dried beef which he consumed with gusto.

"Oh, Maker, that's good," Galo moaned as he ate the jerky. Lio stopped eating to stare at him and Galo smiled apologetically. "I'm so tired of goats. The smell, the taste, the sound-- all terrible. Plus, their eyes are creepy. I mean, it's not the goats' fault, but I've seen way more of them than I'd like to since you lead me out here."

"You didn't _have_ to follow me," Lio said pointedly and popped a piece of cheese into their mouth. "Aren't you from Nevarra? Surely you'd have a little more sympathy for your fellow countrymen. Country-goats."

"Maybe if their eyes weren’t like that," Galo said. Pineapple had wandered a little ways downstream, so Lio’s horse idled close to them. "What's your horse's name?"

"Belle De Trot.”

“Huh!”

“What?" Lio frowned.

"Nothing!” Galo grinned and held up his hands to show that he meant no offense, even though he was still holding his tin plate and a hunk of bread. “It's just a very Orlesian name. But a good name!"

Lio started to smile, but then stopped. They couldn't remember the last time they had smiled so much and it was a little unnerving. Maybe Galo's disarming personality was part of what made him a threat...

 _Normal thoughts! He's just a beefy, well-meaning idiot._ Lio took a steadying breath and set their plate aside. "What did you really want to ask me about?"

Galo put his hands down and his expression became serious, focusing intently on Lio. "I want you to tell me about Kirkwall."

"Haven't you heard? There's a whole book about me and what happened in Kirkwall."

"I've read it, but the book is just another story. I'm interested in the truth."

"You believe at least a little of that story, or you wouldn't have touched the wine I gave you."

"You're lucky I touched it at all since I don't like wine," Galo retorted.

Lio felt a smile grow on their face and this time they let it happen. "Contrary to what your order believes, there's no such thing as the truth. Anything I tell you would just be another version of events told from another perspective, same as anyone else."

"Then, I'm interested in _your_ truth." Galo set aside his own plate, eagerly leaning forward so that the dancing firefight was reflected in his eyes. "There are so many rumors about you. Your name, your heritage, your gender, whether or not you're a mage--"

"And I enjoy keeping all of those things a mystery."

"But--"

"Galo, do you have a vested interest in the truth about my gender?" Lio enjoyed watching the flush on Galo's face climb up to his ears. "I suppose I could tell you a little of my story… but I hate volunteering information. What do you think you already know about me?"

Galo recovered from his embarrassment and sat a little straighter. "I think… that even though you're skilled with daggers and a bow, you're also a mage who's been very good about hiding their magic. You've gone by a few different titles, but making a name for yourself in a new city is another way to conceal your past. You arrived at Kirkwall eight years ago, along with the rest of the refugees fleeing the Blight, but you weren't one of them. You were running from something else."

Lio's expression didn't change. "And what, praytell, was I running from?"

"I'm not sure," Galo hesitated, "But I do know that the Fotias of Orlais are missing one of their heirs. And you have the same rose-colored eyes as the rest of the family."

Lio hummed thoughtfully. "You're not as stupid as you look, I'll give you that."

Galo relaxed a little and smiled. "I find that being underestimated usually works to my advantage."

"Then, we have that in common." Lio drummed their fingers on the top of their thigh and was quiet for a moment. "Alright. I'll tell you my story, but it's going to take more than one evening. You'll have to travel with me for the next week or two _and_ assist with an errand I'm running. But in return, I'll let you ask all the questions you like."

"And you'll answer them?" Galo's eyes widened.

"Yes, to the best of my ability. There was a lot about Kirkwall that even I struggled to understand. I can't promise to have all the answers you're looking for, but I'll tell you what I know."

“And the errand I'm helping you with?”

Lio raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you've already made up your mind."

"I have," Galo confirmed.

Lio felt compelled to chastise him for accepting a deal with a stranger so easily, but they held it in. “I’ve been tasked with retrieving a rare herb. It’s said to only grow in the Tirashan forest.”

“I see your problem. Every tale I’ve heard about that place has been a troubling one.”

“It's not an ideal location, but we won't be going in blind. We’ll be stopping first at a town on the edge of the forest, about five days of riding from here. There’s someone there who can give us information on where to find it.”

"Sounds good to me." Galo picked his plate up and gestured with what was left of the jerky. "Why are we in the Blasted Hills?”

Lio frowned at Galo.

Galo stared blithely back.

"I'm going to regret letting you ask questions, aren't I?" Lio sighed. 

"Probably," Galo shrugged, "But as you mentioned, being a Seeker of the Truth does make me a big fan of, y'know, the truth."

"Yes, I certainly stepped in that one. As you correctly guessed, this is a smugglers’ road. We’re not following it for long, but I want to leave a false trail for those mercenaries to follow.”

"Where does it lead?"

"...Kal-Sharok."

"What, really?" Galo inhaled a breath and Lio recognized it as the prelude to a landslide of questions. "How long is this road? Have you been there? Is it as--"

"Okay," Lio interrupted, "I'm proposing an amendment to the deal. How about you allow me to recount events in chronological order and you can ask questions relevant to the part I'm telling you at the time."

"Being physically near Kal-Sharok seems like it should be relevant to asking questions about Kal-Sharok…" Galo had to hold back a laugh when Lio's frown intensified. "Alright, alright. I'll try not to annoy you too badly."

The rest of the evening passed in companionable silence, the space between them filled with the sound of the stream and the crackling of the fire. Lio cleaned their daggers and stole looks at Galo as he sat close to the fire and wrote in a journal. He kept the ink pot balanced on his knee and wrote in careful, concise strokes with his pen, blowing on the page to dry the ink. When Galo had finished the day’s entry and was cleaning black smudges from his hands, he caught Lio watching him.

“You can ask me questions, too,” Galo said with a gentleness that annoyed Lio. “I don’t mind.”

"I don't want to ask you questions." Lio sheathed their daggers to mark the end of the conversation, turning away to spread out their bedroll. Regardless of how amiable or useful he seemed, there was still the possibility that Galo might try to take them prisoner.

Galo either missed the cue or-- as was seeming more likely with each passing moment-- chose to ignore it. "Really? Pretty much everyone asks about Pineapple."

“Not the weirdest thing I’ve seen.”

Galo considered this. “I guess that’s probably true.”

It was cold enough that they put more wood on the fire to keep it burning through the night. Galo laid out his own bedroll and was glad that he had thought to pack extra furs since they would be heading south next. He was surprised that even though Lio was smaller than him, they seemed less bothered by the cold and instead draped a blanket over Belle.

Galo had made himself comfortable and was drifting off to sleep, but he opened his eyes when he heard Lio shift. Lio had been lying on their other side but now they faced Galo.

“Alright. I have a question," Lio said.

Galo nodded to show that he was listening.

“Why do you care about what I have to say? You could just arrest me and have done with it.”

“Well, as you demonstrated today, you don’t get caught unless you want to be." A sleepy smile curled the corner of Galo's mouth. "And you could have killed me when I left town with you, or poisoned me several times, but you didn’t. I don't think you're actually a bad person."

Lio's expression fell and they seemed disappointed. "I knew you were a sucker for that book."

Galo blinked at them and shook his head. “What happened in Kirkwall… I don’t think you meant for that to happen.”

“...I didn’t.”

"Okay. I believe you."

"That easily? I could just be lying to you."

"Hmm, maybe." Galo closed his eyes. "But I don't think so. I doubt you can spin a tale as well as Varys."

That piqued Lio's interest. "You've met Varys?"

"Yeah, but--" Galo yawned widely, his jaw popping-- "I'm _super_ tired, so if you could ask me your questions tomorrow, but only in chronological order…"

"Ha ha."

Galo cracked an eye open and watched as Lio rolled back over, facing away from him and the fire. "Goodnight, Lio."

"...Goodnight, Galo."

**Author's Note:**

> plz hit the kudos button... I just found out that I'm losing my job in a week and I need the serotonin.


End file.
